I have a weird talent for fanfiction. I write fanfiction about my writing group, and I always get that weird look like, “How did I do that so many times that you noticed?” My friends joke about the faceless old woman who secretly lives in your home, but even I get scared by how close to reality my guesses hit. Sometimes I don’t even realize that I’m doing it, but then I’ll write something, and it’ll end up being the complete truth.

Maybe this is why. People who don’t know me very well think I’m quiet. The truth is, I’m listening. Not for your motivation, necessarily, but for what you like, for how you talk, for the little change in your voice when you feel a migraine coming on.

Not enough people value the talent of listening. Asking questions is great too–if you’ve met me more than once, you know I’m comfortable asking random as heck questions. But if you listen, if you let a conversation flow by itself, you might learn things you never would have if you were trying to steer the conversation toward something that interests you.

It’s time for the second part of my Meyers-Briggs series. The second letter of INTJ stands for intuitive (the ’n’ is used because ‘i’ was already taken.) To me, intuition sounds like some kind of ESP, which allows people to divine truth out of thin air. The Myers-Briggs definition of intuition is a little different, though. (Sadly. I would love to be psychic.) Intuitive people are those of us who focus on systems rather than details. Seeing the forest but missing the trees, if you will.